This blog is going to be our updated progress in the creation of a teaser trailer in the genre of a Social Realism, focusing on choices and decisions in a girls life. We hope to show our increasing knowledge and interest into the genre.
A2 students- Bronwen Lambert, Hannah Bellinger-Brown and Joe Sloggett.
We got ideas for our trailer from various different films and TV shows of a similar genre:
Fish Tank
Fish Tank is a British Drama film which tells the story of fifteen year old Mia . We were especially inspired by this as it gave us the idea to give our character a sense of hope and purpose in the film. Mia's dancing abilities in Fish Tank helped us as a group to decide that our character should also have a talent which sets her apart from other people, which we decided should be art.
Skins The party scenes from Skins were our main inspiration, we want to show how teenagers act at a party and what sort of things they are exposed to. The fast paced shots and quick edits which are seen in Skins will be very similar to what we will use in our trailer.
We sent out our rebellion survey a couple of weeks ago to see what responses we got. We sent it mainly to teenagers so that we could get a direct gauge on what they have opinions on and certain party incidents etc. We will look at these results to influence when setting up our scenes and the attitude that a teenager may take.
Here are our results:
- We found that 90.2% of people felt that Rule-Breaking was the most likely type of rebellion.
- The majority of people thought that Rebellion was an exciting idea in a film. (73.8% Yes, 26.2% No)
- The most common group that people felt they rebelled against was parents/guardians.
We asked why people felt the need to rebel, some of the replies were:
'Stress release to get noticed, attention, to fight for what's right'
'too boxed in, if they're underestimated or don't receive enough attention'
'to be cool, fit in'
'When you think something is unfair'
'being forced to conform to society'
'strict parents'
'to make a point'
We also asked people what they thought would be expected a teenage party, they said:
- alcohol, smoking
- drinking
- alcohol, possibly drugs, music
- drink, drugs, dancing and sex
- alcohol, smoking, sex
- lots of drink, stoners, and people having sex. possibly tears from one or two girls
- dancing, laughing, crying girl, people getting off, drugs, lots of drinking
- people becoming more violent by the amount of alcohol they have had
We then asked people to rate the most likely thing to be at a party:
1) 92.9% of people chose Alcohol as the most likely thing to be at a party
2) 34.1% of people chose Drugs as the 2nd likely thing to be at a party
3) 43.9% of people chose Sex as the 3rd likely thing to be at a party
4) 34.1% of people chose Conflict as the 4th most likely thing to be at a party
5) Violence and abuse were the least most likely thing to be at a party according to our survey
Film 4 Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4 film company. It is a large contributor to British Film making. The company cut its budget and staff significantly in 2002, due to increasing losses, and was re-integrated into the drama department of Channel 4. Because of this, social realism films are more likely to be taken on board because they are low budget and we feel this would represent our genre well. Studio Canal
This is a film distributor company working in the UK and Ireland. They release many films, some in a foreign language and independent British films in the UK. We felt that this would be a good choice, as it is a well-known brand in social realism films. One of the films released was called 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' which we think depicts our genre well.
IFC (Independent Film Channel) is an American film distribution company based in New York. It mainly distributes independent films and documentaries. We decided that this could be a possible choice as IFC has distributed films such as 'Fish Tank' which follows the social realist genre that we are using in our trailer.
Using our Social Networking sites is helping increase the publicity of our teaser trailer and enables us to reach our target market audience easier.
Posting on our Facebook and twitter page enables people to follow our progress, in which we update less information but more links and then our Blog where we are analysing what we are doing in our coursework.
Twitter is helping us be more 'immediate' with our updates and reaches out quicker than Facebook or on Blog as most people tweet from their phones or use the twitter app.
Facebook is helping us gage how many people are interested in this kind of genre and looking at the ages and sex of people who are liking our page.
Survey Monkey is also helping us engage with our audience and ask them questions as to how they feel and what should be presented in our teaser trailer in regards to Rebellion.
We felt that we should research further into the subject of rebellion and we have devised this surveyto help us gather the opinion of teenagers on Rebellion.
After we have gathered enough research we will analyse how we can use this in our trailer.
We felt that a Facebook Page will help to connect to the majority of the social networking sites, as 46% of all Facebook users in 2011 were aged between 13-25. This clearly highlights our target market and therefore we felt this would be a better connection level to this age range and therefore reaching to more people.
Social Realists use the Reflective theory which is the idea that what you are watching is exactly how it is in real life. They are social 'REAL'isms (the clues in the name). Despite this, Staurt Hall said that you can't expect everyone to depict the same message as the creator intended. In relation to the Social Realism 'Fish Tank', this is set in a council estate and deals with common issues related to living in working class area; such as little money, poor conditions and living off benefits. Fish Tank RE-presents the stereotypical view of working class estate living.
Furthermore, the constructivist theory (discursive) deals with issues of power and knowledge. This suggests that the audience will react differently depending on their culture, beliefs and the way they have been brought up. For example; if a Working Class person living on a council estate watches Fish Tank they may be offended, while someone from a Middle Class background may find it amusing. These theories are all relevant within Social Realists.
Social Realist films usually use the narrative structure that Levis-Strauss' binary opposition theory proposes. For example, in the Social Realism 'Fish Tank' there is conflict between the opposite characters of the main girl and her mother as they both want complete different things in life. The mother had children at a young age and lives off benefits, while the daughter wants to break free from the usually 'council estate' life. Also, between the girl and the other girls on the estate as they are complete opposites; the main girl wants more out of life than the other girls who only care about being attractive to men and following the lives of celebrities.
Another narrative theory useful to use in our trailer is Barthes Enigma Codes. Social Realist films almost always have open narratives to emphasise how unpredictable real life. In the Fish Tank trailer, there are so many different possibilities to how the story plans out as so many mysteries are built; for example when the main girl gets grabbed by a group of men it is hard to depict what is going to happen exactly.
With fish tank, the mise-en-scene changes depending on the mood of the part of the trailer. at the beginning there are shots of her living in the small apartment with her mother, and this shows her claustrophobia, straight from the first shot. (1) We also see establishing shots at the beginning, showing this council estate with green around it, providing us with the hope that maybe she can be happy one day. (2) It is also important to analyse the costume that she has been put in, we can see from a quick shot of her confronting a group of girls, that they all wear the same thing and many would say this depicts on this idea that in her neighbourhood you have to wear the same as others to feel as though you fit in (3). When she is going through the happier stage, where she is developing a friendship with this male character, the mise-en-scene changes accordingly and shows a lot more large open spaces with your shots (4).
Editing
At the beginning we see reasonably quick shots of her and her life. There are also a few fade in's of publicity information such as 'jury prize winner' so that people are more drawn to go and watch the film, as it is well known (5). At the beginning of the trailer, we notice there is a blue overlay to the footage of her and her life and this could represent the mood and atmosphere she is feeling right now. We can clearly see that she is unhappy and with the darkened lighting in the scenes, this helps portray this to the audience (6). Later on in the trailer when the action is starting to unfold, captions are faded from black to blue font with emotive phrases to keep the tension building for the viewer (7). Later on in the opening, there are more fade ins and out when she is going through a discovery stage with a mysterious character and this is shown with the brighter shots as well of them in the water (8). and again this changes dramatically at the end where there are plenty of shadows in the shot and mysterious figures, therefore arising questions to the audience (9).
Sound
We are introduced to the protagonist with an urban background track. This depicts that the character, is feisty and that they are not necessarily shy, with the urban music representing her personality (10). When there is action as well, such as when the mother slaps her child, the sound effects are accentuated to provide the audience with a clear message that this is causing her trouble in her life. There is also an accent which is a clear trend throughout the trailer and many would say this helps add to the atmosphere of where she lives and her up-bringing (11). There is a track change twice which also represents the mood of the main character, and this is clear especially when added to the mise-en-scene of the fields (12). Towards the end also, the pace gets quicker and extra sound shots of heaving breathing add to the atmospheric nature and creates even more tension (13).
Camera Angles
When we are being introduced to the character, there are many positioning of the camera which represent that we will see the film from her point of view (14). This is showing the viewer that this is the main protagonist and that we will be following this character for the film. There are again, long shots added to the mise-en-scene in the middle of the trailer when she is discovering with the male character and this again adds to how the audience are interpreting her mood (15). At the end, it is clear that the mood is escalating and the tension is building as the camera angles become more 'random' and less specific and sometimes cut off information from the scenes that are being shot. This adds to the mysterious aspect of Social Realist films and therefore keeps the viewer gripped (16).
Analysing Skins will help us to create the perfect party scene which is a large element of our trailer. We can get inspiration from the actions, costumes and attitudes of the characters.
Sound
All the sound in this clip is
non-diegetic. The music used sets the scene from the beginning; the quick tempo
lets the audience know that this programme is associated with teenagers and
their party lifestyles. The song maintains its quick tempo throughout the clip
until the end where the music eventually slows down suggesting that the maybe
the party has finished and the character on screen are beginning to feel the
effects of what they have done.
Mise-en-scene
Throughout the clip there are many
props shown on screen which can be linked to youth. Objects are regularly
thrown across the room which shows teenagers rebellious nature and how they are
‘out of control’. There is also frequent evidence of drug use on screen which
suggests that teenagers are irresponsible, and enjoy disobeying the rules. The
toys such as the tricycle and the water pistol can be linked to the idea that
teenagers don’t want to grow up and instead want to go back to their childhoods
as they don’t have to take responsibility for themselves. Camera
The use of the camera in this clip makes the trailer seem quite in your face as there is constantly a person getting close to the camera. It uses a mixture of close up and extreme close up shots. This is mainly to show the characters facial expression, to demonstrate their excitement.
Editing
There are very fast cuts in this clip
to give the trailer a quick tempo, this is linked to idea of there being a lack
of control, and how teenagers lives are associated with a non-stop party
lifestyle.
It was essential when choosing our film name that we did extensive research, including analysing previous Social Realism film names and trying to find the best name for the mood and context of our trailer. Here are some names that we got through researching.
Obsession
Infatuation
Neurosis
Delirium
Hysteria
Appetite
Thirst
Hooked
Addict
Vexation
Dilemma
With careful consideration we all agreed on the name 'Mania' for our trailer as it depicts a crazed lifestyle however it does not give away too much of the story line.
Brixton
North London
